JFK SAYS ECONOMIC SITUATION IN CUBA IS BAD
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 21, 1963, President John F. Kennedy held a news conference in the State Department Auditorium here in the Nation's Capital. The conference, which was broadcast live on radio and television, began at 4 p.m. Eastern time.
The President was asked...
"Mr. President, would you please give us a picture of the current economic condition of Cuba and how much of an achilles' heel it might present currently to the Castro regime?"
JFK responded...
"Well, I think they've had a bad economic situation. It's costing at least $1 million a day for the Soviet Union to sustain the economy. The sugar crop has not been very good...."
The President described his view of Cuba as not "an ornament of the Communist system" and that other countries of Latin America should be "disillusioned by the economic deterioration...in the island."
Barbara Smith, a reporter for The New Republic, wrote an article on her visit to Castro's Cuba in 1963. While she saw "sickening signs of poverty and deformity" in Havana," she never saw "any children suffering from malnutrition."
Ms. Smith observed inefficient food distribution and "badly depleted" stocks, but restaurants served good meals, albeit at "high prices." The lack of consumer goods was "not tragic." Echoing JFK's criticisms of the economy, Ms. Smith wrote that "Cuba's pressing need is to rescue its sugar production."
As to the Cuban people, Ms. Smith praised their "gentle manners and excitingly high hopes..."
SOURCES
"The President's News Conference of February 21, 1963," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, January 1 to November 22, 1963, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1964.
"What Life in Cuba Was Like After Castro's Revolution," by Barbara Smith, The New Republic, April 13, 1963, www.newrepublic.com/
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 21, 1963, President John F. Kennedy held a news conference in the State Department Auditorium here in the Nation's Capital. The conference, which was broadcast live on radio and television, began at 4 p.m. Eastern time.
The President was asked...
"Mr. President, would you please give us a picture of the current economic condition of Cuba and how much of an achilles' heel it might present currently to the Castro regime?"
JFK responded...
"Well, I think they've had a bad economic situation. It's costing at least $1 million a day for the Soviet Union to sustain the economy. The sugar crop has not been very good...."
The President described his view of Cuba as not "an ornament of the Communist system" and that other countries of Latin America should be "disillusioned by the economic deterioration...in the island."
Barbara Smith, a reporter for The New Republic, wrote an article on her visit to Castro's Cuba in 1963. While she saw "sickening signs of poverty and deformity" in Havana," she never saw "any children suffering from malnutrition."
Ms. Smith observed inefficient food distribution and "badly depleted" stocks, but restaurants served good meals, albeit at "high prices." The lack of consumer goods was "not tragic." Echoing JFK's criticisms of the economy, Ms. Smith wrote that "Cuba's pressing need is to rescue its sugar production."
As to the Cuban people, Ms. Smith praised their "gentle manners and excitingly high hopes..."
SOURCES
"The President's News Conference of February 21, 1963," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, January 1 to November 22, 1963, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1964.
"What Life in Cuba Was Like After Castro's Revolution," by Barbara Smith, The New Republic, April 13, 1963, www.newrepublic.com/
Fidel Castro
May 1, 2005
Volker Huttig Vollker
Huettig@yahoo.de
Vandrad de.wikipedia
